Rattler Rewind is a weekly summer series written by Tallahassee Democrat FAMU Beat reporter Gerald Thomas. If you have suggestions for future Rattler Rewind guests, please contact Thomas at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com.
Hearing the name ‘Jacquay Nunnally’ gives Florida A&M football fans nostalgic memories of one of the Orange and Green’s most explosive athletes.
Nunnally played wide receiver for the Rattlers from 1997 to 2000, where he earned four All-American and All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors during his tenure. He was also named Black College Player of the Year twice, in 1998 and 2000. Nunnally was inducted into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the MEAC Hall of Fame in 2010.
However, Nunnally didn’t come to The Highest of Seven Hills destined for stardom. Endless work accompanied by a little luck made Nunnally a record holder as one of FAMU’s most revered football players.
“We had a really good receiving corps: John Rutledge, Marvin Taylor, Undre Williams…we had a ton of receivers,” Nunnally said in a phone interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “So going into that redshirt freshman year, I was like the third or fourth. It got to the point where, in the first game of the year, Demetris Bendross (former FAMU wide receiver) and I were on the sidelines throwing water at each other to make it look like we were sweating when we took pictures.
“That’s how I ended up at number 85. It was nothing.”
Early in the 1997 season, injuries piled up among FAMU’s receivers.
An abbreviated position group and a matter of opportunity gave Nunnally a fast track to prove he was capable of quality playing time. And Nunnally kept it.
Nunnally, a redshirt freshman at the time, dazzled the North Carolina A&T crowd when he broke the NCAA Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) record for most of yards gained by a freshman with 284 receiving yards in the FAMU vs. NCAT MEAC Showdown.
From there a FAMU football legend was born, and Nunnally also finished his college career second in FCS receptions with 317.
Now, as offensive coordinator for the Miami Norland Senior High School football team, Nunnally uses his FAMU history to motivate his players.
“If they don’t get hurt, I never play. Once I got on the field, I made the most of it,” Nunnally said. “I tell some of the younger kids who probably aren’t playing as much as they think they should right now, that they have to be ready for the opportunity when it comes.”
Growing up, Nunnally hoped to become an American football player for the Florida State Seminoles, idolizing 1993 Heisman winner and national champion quarterback Charlie Ward.
Nunnally visited FSU on a recruiting trip but was not offered a scholarship to play for the Seminoles. Then, Nunnally crossed the railroad tracks to play for coach Billy Joe’s FAMU Rattlers.
Nunnally had family ties to FAMU football. His uncle, Darrell Pitts, played defensive line for the Rattlers’ 1978 Division I-AA national championship team.
After FAMU, Nunnally had professional football opportunities in the NFL and CFL.
“When Florida State didn’t accept me, I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to show everyone,’” Nunnally said. “In the end I couldn’t ask for more. I made All-ever, broke records and got my chance in the NFL. FAMU gave me everything I would have had at Florida State. It probably would have been an easier path to the NFL. But other than that, everything else was status quo.”
Where did the ‘RAC Boys’ originate? Well, at first it wasn’t the nickname of FAMU’s receivers.
While at FAMU, Nunnally, along with fellow receivers Cainon Lamb, Tariq Qaiyim and Bendross, torched opposing defensive backs with their speed to put together high-scoring performances.
Their ability to gain extra yards after catches led to the appeal of FAMU football as the ‘RAC Boys’, whose acronym stands for Run After Catch.
But that wasn’t the original nickname for the speedy FAMU receivers.
“Michael Morand (former FAMU quarterback) did an interview and said we would be the ‘Top Gun Trio.’ But our receiving corps was like, ‘Man, we don’t like that name,'” Nunnally joked, recalling the creation of the ‘RAC Boys’ nickname.
“Coming from Miami, running after the catch was the most important thing. So we were the ‘RAC Boys’. From there we kept at it and it grew, and grew, and grew. And fortunately, we began to accumulate numbers to back up those claims.”
Today, current FAMU Football receivers honor past Rattler stars by calling themselves ‘RAC Boys 2.0.’ Recently, the Rattlers have had stars come out of their receiver room as Xavier Smith (Los Angeles Rams/second season) and Marcus Riley (New York Jets/rookie) are finding their way in the NFL.
Nunnally feels the current crop of FAMU receivers for the 2024 season can live up to the ‘RAC Boys 2.0’ name.
“It’s an added pressure,” Nunnally said of carrying the ‘RAC Boys’ name. “I go out and check on them from time to time. They have some really good receivers. “They can probably hold it down.”
Jacquay Nunnally remains in tune with modern FAMU Rattlers football
Last December, Nunnally experienced a coming full circle moment.
As Miami Norland’s offensive coordinator, Nunnally coached the Vikings to the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2M state title game. The teams played at the venue where Nunnally captivated football fans for four consecutive years: FAMU’s Bragg Memorial Stadium.
Miami Norland fell to Berkeley Prep 28-20.
“Bragg is a lot different now than when I was there,” Nunnally said. “It was a good time. I saw a lot of people I knew from back in the day and got to walk around the locker room.”
While at FAMU, Nunnally and the Rattlers won the 1998 National Black College Football Championship. The Rattlers were a mainstay in the Division I-AA playoffs, reaching the tournament in all four of Nunnally’s seasons.
Under former head coach Willie Simmons, FAMU football maintained that standard and reached the FCS playoffs in 2021. They followed up with a win in their first Celebration Bowl appearance last December to claim their 17th Football Championship black college student
“Man, that felt good,” Nunnally said of watching the Rattlers lift the Celebration Bowl trophy six months ago. “I wish they had also figured out where they had a chance to play in the playoffs. Because I would have liked to see what last year’s team would have done.”
The Rattlers will begin their football season in two months when they face Norfolk State in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta on August 24. It will begin the era of new head coach James Colzie III, whom Nunnally knows because they are both from Miami.
“Coach Simmons took them to the promised land. Now they are on the right path,” Nunnally said. “And I think Colzie will keep them there.”
Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter. @3peatgee.
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